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Sharkwater: Think twice about shark’s fin soup, please

Imagine someone cutting off your ear or one of your limbs, thinking you’ll still be able to function normally afterward.

That’s what happens to sharks because of the high demand for their fins: Their fins are brutally cut off, and they’re thrown back into the water, left to drown.

Filmmaker Rob Stewart documents the exploitation of shark populations in Cocos Islands, Costa Rica and in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador to fuel the lucrative business of finning sharks for aphrodisiacs and for shark’s fin soup. I got the chance to watch the movie two years ago and you’d feel for these great predators, who are actually very helpless in the face of human abuse.

Can’t we all be just happy with cream of mushroom?

Stewart also debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as blood thirsty, man-eating monsters (no thanks to movies like Jaws). They actually play a crucial role in the evolution of the seas.